This invention relates to outsoles for footwear.
Stubblefield, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,372,058, 4,546,556, 4,550,510, and 4,449,307 describes an outsole for an athletic shoe. The outsole is provided with several outwardly disposed flexible lugs inclined at an obtuse angle to the lower surface of the shoe sole. This angular configuration allows the lugs to spread outwardly upon impact with the ground and thereby dissipate impact forces away from the foot and leg of the wearer. A series of lugs is formed around the periphery of the shoe sole to define a central concavity in which further lugs may be located. These further lugs have a lesser vertical dimension than the outermost lugs. In order to prevent the outermost lugs from being broken, a reinforcing means may be provided as a web extending between adjacent lugs. This web extends around the periphery of the outsole to connect adjacent lugs. It does not extend within the central concavity. The shoe sole also may be provided with a shock absorbing inner portion (distinct from the outsole) in which a plurality of parallel tranverse walls extend vertically upward.